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| Caniapiscau Reservoir | |
|---|---|
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  Caniapiscau Reservoir Location in Quebec | |
| Location | Caniapiscau /Baie-James,Quebec, Canada |
| Coordinates | 54°09′27″N69°50′44″W / 54.15750°N 69.84556°W /54.15750; -69.84556 |
| Type | Artificial |
| Primary inflows | Caniapiscau River |
| Primary outflows | Laforge River,Caniapiscau River |
| Catchment area | 36,800 km2 (14,200 sq mi) |
| Basin countries | Canada |
| Max. length | 120 km (75 mi) |
| Max. width | 135 km (84 mi) |
| Surface area | 4,318 km2 (1,667 sq mi) |
| Max. depth | 49 m (161 ft) |
| Water volume | 53.8 km3 (12.9 cu mi)[1] |
| Residence time | 2.2 years |
| Shore length1 | 4,850 km (3,010 mi) |
| Surface elevation | 535 m (1,755 ft) |
| Islands | 300 |
| Settlements | Caniapiscau |
| 1 Shore length isnot a well-defined measure. | |
TheCaniapiscau Reservoir (French:Réservoir de Caniapiscau) is areservoir on the upperCaniapiscau River in theCôte-Nord administrative region of the Canadianprovince ofQuebec. It is the largest body of water in Quebec[2] and the second largest reservoir in Canada.
The Caniapiscau Reservoir, formed by two dams and forty-three dikes, is the largest reservoir in surface area of theJames Bay Project. As headpond, it feeds the power plants of the La Grande complex in the winter and provides up to 35% of their production.[2] Its total catchment area is about 36,800 square kilometres (14,200 sq mi).
The reservoir was named after Lake Caniapiscau that was flooded during the formation of the reservoir. The name is an adaptation of theCree orInnu toponymkâ-neyâpiskâw, which means "rocky point".Albert Peter Low had noted in 1895 that "a high rocky headland jutts into the lake." He probably referred to the northwest facing peninsula that gives the reservoir the shape of an arc as we currently know it.[2]
The Caniapiscau Reservoir is accessible bybush plane and, since 1981, by a gravel road from James Bay (theTrans-Taiga Road). At the very end of this road, near the Duplanter spillway, is the former worksite of the Société d'énergie de la Baie-James, namedCaniapiscau. There is no permanent human habitation at the reservoir, but it is used byoutfitters for seasonal hunting and fishing expeditions and by someCree for subsistence fishing and trapping.[3] It is isolated from society and there are very few gas stations or other services nearby.
The natural lakes of the region were formed about nine thousand years ago asglaciers left Quebec after having scoured theCanadian Shield for ninety thousand years. The prototype of these lakes was anice dam lake that drained southwards into theGulf of Saint Lawrence at a time when areas further north (Nunavik) were still glaciated. Aspost-glacial rebound elevated the southern part of the Canadian Shield more rapidly than the north, the region began to drain northward into the Caniapiscau River, a tributary of theKoksoak River, and ultimately intoUngava Bay.
Prior to impoundment, Lake Caniapiscau covered about 470 square kilometres (180 sq mi) and was frequented by hunters and fur traders in the 19th century. In 1834, theHudson's Bay Company opened an outpost there to link its facilities in theJames Bay region with those ofUngava Bay, but closed the Kaniapiskau Post in 1870.[2]
In 1976,Société d'énergie de la Baie James, a subsidiary ofHydro-Québec, began construction on the Caniapiscau Reservoir, designed to feed thehydro-electric generating stations of theJames Bay Project. Filling the reservoir began on October 25, 1981,[4] and over the next three years it flooded numerous lakes such as Lakes Caniapiscau, Delorme, Brisay, Tournon, and Vermouille. It now fills a depression in the highest part of theLaurentian Plateau of the Canadian Shield, covering 4,318 square kilometres (1,667 sq mi), or about four times the size of the natural lakes prior to impoundment.
Since August 1985, the Caniapiscau River was partially diverted to the west into theLaforge River of theLa Grande River watershed, flowing west toJames Bay.[3]
Many new islands were created as a result of the lake's impoundment, and in 1997 Quebec's Commission de toponymie published a map naming those islands for significant works of Québécois literature. The names of the islands attracted controversy not only because they predominantly used French-language works, but also becauseCree andInuitFirst Nations leaders claimed that the sites alreadyhad native names prior to becoming islands, which were ignored and overwritten.[5]
The Caniapiscau Reservoir is in the zone of discontinuouspermafrost. The area surrounding the reservoir is vegetated entirely withtaiga, or boreal forest, characterized by widely spacedBlack Spruce with a thick underlayer of yellow-greylichen and interspersed withmuskeg and bogs. In the more moist areas, some closed coniferous forest stands may appear. On the more exposed land, a forest-tundra transition zone occurs where the woodland is replaced by lichen dominatedtundra.[3]
